Shuttleless loom with special lay for weaving terry cloth



Oct. 26, 1965 P. BURGESS 3,213,891

SHUTTLELESS LOOM WITH SPECIAL LAY FOR WEAVING TERRY CLOTH Filed Feb. 25, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEYTOR! DOUGLAS P EwRGEss ATTORNEYS Oct. 26, 1965 P. BURGESS SHUTTLELESS LOOM WITH SPECIAL LAY FOR WEAVING TERRY CLOTH Filed Feb. 25, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORI 6 S E m m M W M L Mm ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,213,891 SHUTTLELESS LOOM WITH SPECIAL LAY FOR WEAVING TERRY CLOTH Douglas P. Burgess, Woodleaf, N.C., assignor to Cannon Mills Company, Kannapolis, NC, a corporation of North Carolina Filed Feb. 25, 1964, Ser. No. 347,153 Claims. (Cl. 139-26) This invention relates to shuttleless looms of the type having tape-mounted filling carriers which reciprocate into and out of opposite ends of the warp shed and meet at a medial portion of the shed to transfer filling from one carrier to another, as is well known. More particularly, this invention relates to a new and novel arrangement of the lay to enable weaving terry cloth with loops on both sides of the cloth on a loom of the type described.

During reciprocation of the filling carries and/ or tapes of looms of this type, they must be supported adequately by the warps in the bottom of the shed which, therefore, must be supported by the lay, due to the weight and high speed of the filling carriers and to prevent the carriers from passing through the bottom of the shed. This has presented a problem in the weaving of terry cloth having loops on both sides thereof on this type of loom, because it is necessary that the terry or pile warps in the bottom of the shed occupy a lower position than the ground warps in the bottom of the shed. Otherwise, there is a tendency for the terry warps in the bottom of the shed to fold upward and become embedded between the first loose weft and the preceding fast weft during each succeeding fast pick, instead of being projected downwardly to form terry loops on the bottom of the cloth. The bottom loops will not always be projected downywardly in the desired manner because the upper surface of the conventional lay is in very close proximity to, or touches, all of the warps in the bottom of the shed substantially throughout each beat-up stroke thereof.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide, in combination with a shuttleless loom, a lay and a reed shiftable between full and partial beat-up positions, wherein the lay is provided with a longitudinally extending upper surface or raceway of a width greater than onehalf the width of the tapes and/ or the widest of the filling carriers with the rear edge of the raceway terminating forwardly of the rear edge of the path of travel of the tapes and/or at least one of the filling carriers, the lay being beveled or otherwise recessed between the raceway and the front face of the reed thereby providing a space through which the terry warps in the bottom of the shed may be projected to separate them from the bottom ground warps during each shed change. The bottom terry warps extend also through the space When the reed occupies forward position relative to the lay to insure that terry loops being formed during each fast pick or full beat-up of the reed may be directed downwardly relative to the ground warps and wefts without being encumbered by the adjacent ground warps and the lay and without sacrificing adequate support for the tapes and the filling carriers.

The preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary, somewhat schematic, top plan view of a medial portion of the lay of the present invention showing the filling carriers and proximal end portions of their tapes as though extending through the open shed formed of the warps, with the associated reed being shown in cross-section in its rearmost position relative to the lay;

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FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along line 22 in FIGURE 1 with the lay occupying its rearmost position and the reed occupying backward or partial beat-up position with respect to the lay;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the lay in the beat-up position with the reed occupying a full beat-up or forward position with respect to the lay and against the fell of the cloth; and

FIGURE 4 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view through a portion of a typical terry cloth wherein spaced vertical broken lines define successive terry cycles and wherein a rear portion of the lay is shown in one position in solid lines and another position in broken lines.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the improved lay 10 of the present invention is particularly adapted for use on a shuttleless loom, such as the Draper Model DSL loom. The loom includes a pair of filling carriers 11, 12 fixed on the proximal ends of flexible tapes 13, 14 of substantially lesser width than the overall width of the lay 10. The tapes 13, 14 operate in a wellknown manner to reciprocate the carriers 11, 12 and cause them to enter the shed and to be withdrawn therefrom, passing inwardly to a point somewhere adjacent the center of the shed at which the traansferring function; i.e., a gripping of the loop by the filling extending carrier 12 and releasing thereof from the inserter carrier 11, is caused to take place. The filling carriers may be of a type such as are shown in US. Patent No. 2,705,508, dated April 5, 1955, and they may be reciprocated in a well-known manner. US. Patents Nos. 1,515,102; 1,883,- 354; 2,191,376; and 2,604,123 are illustrative of the type of loom with which the present lay may be used and, therefore, details of the loom other than those shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, are deemed unnecessary.

The lay 10 may be made of wood and is suitably secured to the upper surface of a lay beam 15 carried by lay swords 17, only one of which is shown in FIGURES 2 and 3.

conventionally, the reed of the shuttleless loom is fixedly secured to the lay beam 15. However, in order to convert the loom for the weaving of terry cloth, a swinging or shiftable reed 20 is provided. In this instance, the cap 21 of reed 20 is pivotally connected, as at 22, to the upper portion of an extension 23 on each of the swords 17 so that the reed may swing between predetermined forward and rearward positions or full beat-up and partial beat-up positions with respect to lay 10.

The reed 20 is shown in the partial beat-up or back position relative to lay 10 in FIGURE 2, which position it occupies in beating up loose picks spaced from the fell of the cloth. The reed 20 occupies the forward or full beat-up position relative to the lay 10 (FIGURE 3) when it is beating up a fast pick against the fell and forms loops on the top and bottom of the cloth 24. Conventional or other suitable means may be used for swinging the reed 20 between the full and partial beat-up positions in timed relation to the beat-up strokes of the swords 17 and lay 10. A conventional type of reed operating mechanism is disclosed in US. Patent No. 1,739,192, for example, although it is preferred that a reed operating mechanism of the type disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 347,154, filed February 25, 1964, and entitled Terry Weaving Apparatus is used in association with this type of shuttleless loom in converting the same for weaving terry cloth. Said copending application includes means for imparting linear vertical reciprocatory movement to cam blocks 25, only one of which is shown in FIGURES 2 and 3 of the present application.

One of the cam blocks 25 is guided for movement on each of the swords 17 and has a slot 26 therethrough which extends at an angle of approximately 45 degrees with respect to the vertical axis of the reed 20 when it occupies full beat-up position relative to lay 10. Each end of reed -has a suitable bracket 27 fixed thereto and extending downwardly therefrom adjacent the corresponding sword 17 and a pin or follower 30 projects laterally from each bracket 27 and is loosely positioned in the slot 26 of the corresponding cam block 25.

By comparing FIGURES 2 and 3, it is apparent that downward movement of cam block 25 from the position of FIGURE 2 to that of FIGURE 3 imparts forward movement to reed to move the same to full beat-up position relative to lay 10, and upward movement of cam block from the position shown in FIGURE 3 to that shown in FIGURE 2 imparts predetermined rearward movement to the reed 20 relative to the lay 10 and causes the reed occupy partial beat-up position.

The terry or pile warps and ground warps forming the upper portion of the shed in FIGURES 2 and 3 are indicated at 41, 42 and the ground warps and terry warps forming the bottom of the shed in FIGURES 2 and 3 are indicated at 43, 44, respectively. The shed, including the portions of the warps 41-44 extending rearwardly from the fell of the cloth 24, is formed by the usual harnesses or heddles in a well-known manner and, accordingly, an illustration of the shed forming means is deemed unnecessary. It should be noted that the angle of the shed defined by the ground warps 42, 43 is less than that formed by the terry warps 41, 44; i.e., the terry warps 41, 44 straddle the ground warps 42, 43 in the shed when the shed is open.

This particular type of shuttleless loom is particularly devised for high speed operation. Therefore, the warps 43, 44 in the bottom of the shed must be supported so as to adequately support the filling carriers 11, 12 and tapes 13, 14 during reciprocation thereof into and out of the shed. Such support is necessary because, unlike a conventional fly-shuttle terry loom, reed 20 does not provide support for the filling carriers 11. As is well known, shuttles of fly-shuttle terry looms are supported by both 'the reed and the bottom warps in the shed during insertion of each weft.

Thus, the -shuttleless loom has its swords 17 so mounted that lay 10 moves in an arcuate path which maintains the same in engagement with the warps in the bottom of the shed throughout a substantial portion of each stroke of the lay; i.e., from the time lay 10 moves from a point about midway of each rearward stroke thereof to its rearmost or back-center position and until the lay returns to said point during its succeeding beat-up stroke. The cloth 24 is positioned very close to the upper surface of the lay 'when it occupies its beat-up position shown in FIGURE 3.

A conventional lay, however, is provided with a flat upper surface throughout its width which terminates so close to the front face of the reed that there is no space in front of the reed into which the terry warps may be projected during each shed change effected by the usual heddles and into which the terry warps may pass during beat-up strokes of the lay. The limitations in the opening of the shed imposed by a conventional lay of this type of shuttleless loom result in the bottom terry warps frequently being bound by adjacent ground warps. The terry warps are under substantially lesser tension than the ground warps and, if any of them become bound by adjacent ground warps, they pucker and project upwardly from the lay and into the path of the filling carriers thus damaging and/ or breaking the warps.

Also, such puckered yarns become lodged between adjacent wefts during beat-up of the lay so terry loops which are suppose to form on the bottom of the cloth may not be of the desired length and are frequently projected upwardly through the cloth. Since the lay is positioned very close to the cloth at beat-up, the conventional lay also interferes at times with the downward projection of terry loops as they are formed from corresponding terry warps during each successive fast pick of the loom.

Therefore, in order to insure that terry loops are formed properly on the bottom face of the cloth 24 during beatup of each fast pick, and to prevent the bottom terry warps 44 from puckering above the lay, while providing adequate support for the filling carries 11, 12 and tapes 13, 14 during reciprocation thereof, the lay 10 is provided with a longitudinally extending relatively narrow raceway 50 on the upper surface thereof which extends substantially throughout the length of the lay 10 or at least throughout that much of the length of the lay 10 embraced by the warps 4144. The front edge of the raceway 50 may terminate flush with the front surface of the lay 10 and, in any event, raceway 50 preferably should terminate forwardly of the front edge of the path of travel of the tapes 13, 14 and/or the filling carriers 11, 12.

The rear edge of raceway 50 terminates forwardly of the rear edge of the path of travel of the tapes 13, 14 and/or the filling carriers 11, 12. The rear portion of the lay, commencing at the rear edge of raceway 50 is provided with a beveled surface, or chamfer, 51 defining a recess 52 beneath the ground warps in the bottom of the shed between raceway 50 and the front face of the reed 20 when the reed 2t) occupies forward position with respect to the lay 10. Of course, the beveled surface 51 also defines the recess 52 beneath the fell of the cloth 24 as shown in FIGURE 3, when lay 10 occupies forward position and while reed 20 occupies full beat-up position 'with respect to lay 10. The beveled surface 51 may extend throughout the length of lay 10, but should be of a length equal to or greater than that embraced by the warps 41-44.

The rear portion of lay 10 may be cut away in any desired manner to form the recess 52, but the surface 51 is preferably beveled as shown, to extend at an angle of from 15 to 45 degrees with respect to the upper surface of raceway 50, so the terry warps in the bottom of the shed may engage the surface 51 during reciprocation of the lay 10, depending upon the extent to which the warp shed is opened by the shed forming means. The surface 51, being beveled in this manner, also minimizes abrasion of the warps and wear of the lay 10 at the juncture of the surfaces 50, 51.

Since the lay 10 is made from wood, as is usual, and repeated movements of the lay against the warps causes the warps to roughen, groove or otherwise damage the apex of the juncture of surfaces 50, 51, an elongate 'angularly-shaped warp support 53, made of metal or other suitable wear-resistant material, may be suitably secured to the rear portion of lay 10, as by screws 54. The rear portion of lay 10 is suitably recessed so the upper surface of the inclined upper portion of warp support 53 serves as the beveled surface 52.

The front portion of warp support 53 also forms a narrow band portion along the rear portion of raceway 50 and which extends throughout the length of raceway 50. Thus, as the bottom warps bend at the rear edges of raceway 50, the metal or other wear-resistant material in the Warp support 53 is subjected to the abrasion of the warps instead of the wood, thereby increasing the useful life of lay 10.

It is thus seen that the recess 52 provides a space into which the terry warps in the bottom of the shed may snap beneath the plane of the ground warps in the bottom of the shed during each shed change and into which the bottom terry warps may pass during reciprocation of the lay to insure separation of the bottom terry warps 44 from the ground warps so they may be slackened and advanced relative to the ground warps, without being encumbered by the ground warps. Further, the recess 52 in the upper rear portion .of the lay 10 provides a space into which the loops in the bottom of the cloth may be projected during the formation thereof with each fast pick of the loom. Thus, the problem of the loops, during formation thereof, being projected upwardly between adjacent picks or wefts, or into the path of the filling carriers, is eliminated.

In practice, it has been found that the depth of the recess 52, at least at the rear edge of the lay, must be greater than the length of the loops being formed on the bottom of the cloth 24, or sufficient to permit the downwardly moving terry warps to be moved to the extent effected by the shed forming means during a shed change to positively clear the ground warps then forming the bottom of the shed. The width of the recess also must be greater than the distance the reed 20 is shifted between full and partial beat-up positions with respect to the upper surface or raceway 50 of the lay 10.

For example, a lay about 1% inches wide and of an inch thick was used on a shuttleless loom, and the vertical distance from the raceway 50 to the rear edge of surface 51 was about A of an inch. The horizontal distance between raceway 50 and the rear surface of lay (warp support 53) was about /2 of an inch. It is preferred that surface 51 extends at an angle of about 30 degrees relative to raceway 50, but such angle may be varied from to 45 degrees or more, if desired.

An enlarged portion of a three-pick terry cloth, for example, is shown in FIGURE 4 wherein a portion of the lay 10 is shown in solid lines in the position occupied thereby as the reed is about to start advancing a corresponding fast pick to the full beat-up position. A portion of the lay 10 is also shown in broken lines in the righthand portion of FIGURE 4 occupying the full beat-up position at which the preceding fast pick was beat up. The cloth 24 in FIGURE 4 illustrates five successive terry repeats or cycles A", A, A, B, C, each of which includes two loose picks L, L and a fast pick F. The terry repeats or cycles A, A, A, B are completely formed in FIG- URE 4 and the repeat C is partially formed. The vertically extending broken lines a", a, a, b represent the positions occupied by the front face of reed with full beat-up strokes thereof in completing the successive repeats A, A, A, B and forming respective sets of transverse rows of top and bottom terry loops 2, 2a; 3, 3a; 4, 4a and 5, 5a from the respective terry warps 41, 44. It should be noted that the broken-line position of lay 10 in the right-hand portion of FIGURE 4 corresponds to the reed position b. The bottom terry warp 44 is shown in broken lines in FIGURE 4 to distinguish it from the other yarns.

The vertically extending broken line 0 in the left-hand portion of FIGURE 4 represents the position occupied by the front face of reed 20 with respect to the solid line position of lay 10 following the insertion and beating up of loose picks L, L in the repeat C to a position spaced a predetermined distance from the previously inserted fast pick F in repeat B and also following the insertion of the fast pick F of repeat C and at about the time that the reed 20 is starting to move the picks L, L, F and floated portions 6, 6a of the terry warps 41, 44 forwardly relative to the ground warps 42, 43.

By referring to the repeat B in FIGURE 4, it will be noted that, following the partial beat-up of loose pick L of repeat B, a shed change occurred in which the ground and terry warps 43, 44 moved to the bottom of the shed as the terry and ground warps 41, 42 moved to the top of the shed. If a conventional lay having a flat upper surface throughout its width had been used, the terry warps in the top of the shed would have separated from the ground warps in a satisfactory manner, but the terry warps in the bottom of the shed would not have been able to separate from the bottom ground warps, or at least some of the bottom terry warps would not have separated from the bottom ground warps at a point forwardly of the reed, so the bottom floated portion 6a in FIGURE 4 or other floated portions corresponding thereto, may have become bound between adjacent ground warps.

Thus, upon fast pick F in repeat B being beat-up and another shed change occurring with the terry warps 44 remaining in the bottom of the shed, the floated terry warp portions previously bound between adjacent ground warps would be pulled upwardly and remain lodged between the ground warps where they cross between fast pick F of repeat B and the first loose pick L of repeat C. Thereafter, with the successive beating up of the loose pick L and fast pick F of repeat C, the floated portion or portions 6a of the bottom terry warps 44 would become lodged between fast pick F of repeat B and loose pick L of repeat C and the loop or loops formed therefrom would be shorter than they are supposed to be or they would project upwardly and appear on the upper face of the fabric 24.

As heretofore stated, however, the lay of the present invention provides the recess 52 into which the terry warps may snap and subsequently pass during shed changes and during forward movement of the lay, thus insuring that the bottom terry warp 44 of FIGURE 4 was positively separated from the ground warps when the shed for the fast pick F of repeat B was formed. This further insures that the floated portions 611 are not bound between adjacent ground warps 42, 43 during the formation of any of the sheds following the beat-up of fast pick F of repeat B and through the completion of the succeeding terry cycle or repeat C.

It is apparent also that, as the reed 20 moves forwardly from position c while in full beat-up position relative to lay 10, it moves the leading or first loose pick L of repeat C into close proximity to the previously beat-up fast pick F, and the terry warp portions 6, 6a not only are free of the corresponding ground warps 42 and 43, but both portions 6, 6a may loop away from the mean substantially horizontal plane of the cloth 24 and the lower terry warp portion 6a will not be encumbered by the upper surface of the lay 10 as all three of the picks or wefts L, L, of repeat C are fully beat up by the reed 20.

This function is further illustrated in the central portion of FIGURE 4 wherein it will be noted that, as the fast pick F in repeat B was beat up, the loop 5a was formed completely and still does not engage the lay 10. Although loop 2a may be engaging raceway 50, loop 2a has been formed completely and may be pressed tightly against the base fabric as it may be in normal use of the cloth.

It is thus seen that I have provided a lay 10 for use in converting a shuttleless loom of the type described to a terry loom and wherein the raceway 50 of the lay 10 is so formed as to provide adequate support for the tapes 13, 14 and filling carriers 11, 12 during reciprocation thereof into and out of the shed, but wherein the rear edge of the raceway 50 terminates forwardly of the rear edge of the path of travel of the tapes 13, 14 and/or the filling carriers 11, 12 and defines the front edge of a recess 52 into which the bottom terry warp yarns 44 may extend and into which loops formed therefrom may be projected during each successive fast pick of the loom so that uniform terry loops are formed throughout the bottom of the cloth 24 as it is woven. Thus, the bottom loops may be of the same length and uniformity as the loops formed on the top of the cloth 24.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. In a shuttleless tloom adapted for weaving terry cloth from terry warps and ground warps, said loom having a lay, a reed adjacent the rear edge of the lay and at least one tape-supported filling carrier movable along a path into and out of the warp shed for inserting wefts therein; the improvement wherein the rear upper surface of the lay has a chamfer extending longitudinally thereof to enable proper separation of the bottom sheds of terry warps and ground warps during operation of the iloom, said chamfer having a front upper edge engaging the bottom warps and at which the bottom warps bend downwardly as they extend rearwardly from the fell of the cloth being woven, and said front upper edge being located under and within the path of travel of the filling carrier to provide adequate support for the bottom warps and thereby prevent the filling carrier from becoming misaligned during operation thereof.

2. The improvement in a shuttleless (loom as defined in claim 1 and in which said chamfer extending along the rear upper surface of the lay is formed at an angle of approximately to 45 degrees with respect to the plane of travel of said front upper edge of said chamfer during operation of the lay.

3. In a shuttleless loom having swords, a lay carried by the swords, weft carriers movable along the lay for inserting wefts in a warp shed, and a reed supported by the swords and adapted for movement toward and away from the lay the improvement for adapting said shuttleless loom for weaving terry cloth from ground warps and terry warps which comprises a cam mounted for movement with the lay and for movement toward and away from the reed, vertically movable means for moving said cam, a follower carried by the reed and movable therewith and engaging the cam for effecting said movement of the reed toward and away from the lay in timed relation to the movement of the lay, the longitudinal rear upper surface of the lay being cut-away so that the terry warps may extend beneath the ground warps in the bottom warp shed, and said cut-away portion forming a longitudinal upper edge on the lay engaging the bottom warps in the shed and at which the bottom warps bend downwardly as they extend rearwardly from the fell of the coth being woven, said upper edge being located so that the path of travel of the weft carriers extends partially over said cut-away portion and said upper edge supports the bottom warps along a line coinciding with the path of travel of the carriers.

4. In a shuttleless loom having swords, a lay carried by the swords, weft carriers movable along the lay for inserting wefts in -a warp shed, and a reed supported by the swords and adapted for movement toward and away from the lay; the improvement for adapting said shuttleless loom for weaving terry cloth which comprises a second cam mounted for movement with the lay and for movement toward and away from the reed, vertically movable means for moving said cam, a follower carried by the reed and movable therewith and engaging the second cam for effecting said movement of the reed toward and away from the lay in timed relation to the movement of the lay, and the rear upper surface of the lay having a beveled surface longitudinally thereof to provide a space into which the terry warps may pass below the ground warps in the bottom warp shed, the position of the juncture of the front upper surface of the lay with said beveled surface being forwardly of the rear edge of the path of the weft carriers and being such that the lay provides adequate support for normal movement of the weft carriers upon the bottom warp shed.

5. In a shuttleless loom adapted for weaving terry cloth from terry warps and ground warps, said loom having a lay, a reed adjacent the rear edge of the lay and tape-supported filling carriers movable along a path into and out of the warp shed for inserting wefts therein; the improvement comprising a reed shifting cam mounted for movement with the lay, means for moving said cam, a follower carried by the reed and movable therewith and engaging the cam for effecting said movement of the reed toward and away from the lay in timed relation to the movement of the lay, and the rear upper surface of the lay having a chamfer extending longitudinally thereof to enable proper separation of the bottom sheds of terry warps and ground warps during operation of the loom, said chamfer having a front upper edge engaging the bottom warps and allowing them to bend downwardly as they extend rearwardly from the fell of the cloth being woven, said front upper edge being located under and within the path of travel of the filling carriers to provide adequate support for the bottom warps and thereby prevent the filling carriers from becoming misaligned during operation thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,299,004 10/42 Berg 139--26 FOREIGN PATENTS 11,199 1885 Great Britain. 22,65 3 l 895 Great Britain. 23,041 1905 Great Britain.

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent Noe 3,213,891 October 26, 1965 Douglas P. Burgess It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 2, line 26, for "traansferring" read transferring column 6, line 38, for "L, L," read L, L, F

Signed and sealed this 31st day of May 1966.

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST W. SWIDER EDWARD J. BRENNER Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. IN A SHUTTLELESS LOAN ADAPTED FOR WEAVING TERRY CLOTH FROM TERRY WRAPS AND GROUND WRAPS, SAID LOOM HAVING A LAY, A REED ADJACENT THE REAR EDE OF THE LAY AND AT LEAST ONE TAPE-SUPPORTED FILLING CARRIER MOVABLE ALONG A PATH INTO AND OUT OF THE WRAP SHED FOR INSERTING WEFTS THEREIN; THE IMPROVEMENT WHEREIN THE REAR UPPER SURFACE OF THE LAY HAS A CHAMFER EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF TO ENABLE PROPER SEPARATION OF THE BOTTOM SHEDS OF TERRY WARPS AND GROUND WARPS DURING OPERATION OF THE LOOM, SAID CHAMFER HAVING A FRONT UPPER EDGE ENGAGING THE BOTTOM WARPS AND AT WHICH THE BOTTOM WARPS BEND DOWNWARDLY AS THEY EXTEND REARWARDLY FROM THE FELL OF THE CLOTH BEING WOVEN, AND SAID FRONT UPPER EDGE BEING LOCATED UNDER AND WITHIN THE PATH OF TRAVEL OF THE FILLING CARRIER TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE SUPPORT FOR THE BOTTOM WARPS AND THEREBY PREVENT THE FILLING CARRIER FROM BEING MISALIGNED DURING OPERATION THEREOF. 